Enigmatic stayer Diamond Jak virtually carried the grandstand to an emotionally stirring victory in Saturday’s Paul McGlade Taumarunui Gold Cup (2200m) at Te Rapa.

The winner of the race in 2025, the Mark Brosnan-prepared stayer was the clear topweight on 62kg for the 2026 edition of the traditional winter feature and had been written off by many due to his unruly manners at the start where he often refuses to jump on terms with his rivals.

Jockey Samantha Collett had the task of turning that around and had joked beforehand she would be whispering in his ear and showing him a few practice jumps as the seven-year-old son of Jakkalberry had been jumping of late to sharpen him up.

Although away with the field, Diamond Jak drifted back as the pace set up by Pacifico and Overrated became farcically slow in the middle stages before a group of back runners began to swoop around the outside at the 700m, led up by Awapuni visitor Cheval de Foudre and Rosetown Princess.

Cheval de Foudre took over early in the run home and shot two lengths clear as Collett began to wind up Diamond Jak as the widest runner on the track. As with his victory last year when he out-bobbed Rosetown Princess, Diamond Jak knew where the winning post was to thrust his nose in front to deny Cheval de Foudre, with pacemaker Pacifico fighting on bravely for third.

Brosnan admitted he didn’t think his charge could carry 62kgs and win the race, although he was happy to be proven wrong.

“It was a real good effort with 62kgs on and I didn’t really think he could do it,” Brosnan said.

“She (Collett) got him away well and that was the answer.

“We’ve mixed it up with him and I took him to the jumping trials on Monday to get him thinking differently as it is all in his head.

“All credit to the horse and to Sam, it was a good effort by all.”

Collett said she wasn’t thinking too many good thoughts when the pace eased in the mid-stages of the contest.

“It was a real emotional roller-coaster on how it was run as first of all I got him out of the gates and I thought thank God,” she said.

“Then he never really travelled and they got slow and I was thinking they’re going too slow for us. I was just hoping he would get a roll on and once I got a draft into it, he got going and then had the audacity to prick his ears coming around the home bend.

“He was only going to give me the bare minimum, but he put his snout out just when it mattered.

“Full credit to Mark as he has had an unorthodox prep and it is hard to get an old gelding going like this when he has a full bag of tricks.”

Bred and owned by Gary and Linda Hodel, Diamond Jak has now won nine of his 45 starts, with a further 12 placings and more than $408,000 in prizemoney.